文档介绍：Attachment and Borderline Personality DisorderPeter Fonagy; Gower Street, London WCIE 6BT,
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The author outlines his concept of reflective function or mentalization, which is defined as the
capacity to think about mental states in oneself and in others. He presents evidence to suggest that
the capacity for reflective awareness in a child's caregiver increases the likelihood of the child's
secure attachment, which in turn facilitates the development of mentalization in the child. He
proposes that a secure attachment relationship offers the child a chance to explore the mind of the
caregiver, and in this way to learn about minds; he formulates this model of the birth of the
psychological self as a variation on the Cartesian cogito: “My caregiver thinks of me as thinking and
therefore I exist as a thinker” This model is then applied to provide insight into some personality-
disordered individuals who were victims of childhood abuse. The author proposes (1) that individuals
who experience early trauma may defensively inhibit their capacity to mentalize to avoid having to
think about their caregiver's wish to harm them; and (2) that some characteristics of severe
borderline personality disorder may be rooted in developmental pathology associated with this
inhibition. He offers evidence for and some qualifications of this model, and argues